About + Culture

A shared professional workspace for people towork in one environment across sectors, & grow their network

Aligned Collective is a Registered Not-For-Profit Society

Aligned Collective is the newest and largest coworking space in Squamish that provides private offices, coworking spaces, event space, education opportunities, space for dialogue, and community engagement initiatives.

AC offers space for freelancers, contractors, independent business owners, and both early stage & established startups.

Who We Are

Susan and Zanny are exponentially driven to support community economic development initiatives in Squamish and the Sea to Sky Community. Their combined experiences in the social-impact arena amplify their capacity to curate, launch and manage a successful coworking and community hub. They are passionate in their roles of advancing the community where they live, work and play to offer a platform where they can see the Sea to Sky Corridor locally succeed.

Susan Chapelle

Susan Chapelle, a successful entrepreneur and small business owner, is serving a second term as a City Councillor in one of the most rapidly growing communities in Canada, Squamish British Columbia. As an advocate for urban planning and economic development as an integral part of preventative health care in her community, she advocated successfully for the healthy community initiative in the official city plan. Susan is a graduate of the Simon Fraser University Community Economic development program and is currently an SFU EMBA candidate. Susan is also the owner of Squamish Integrated Health, a successful business that opened in 2000 and now employs 23 people. Susan continues her health care research through a collaboration with Geoffrey Bove, D.C, PhD at the University of New England and is an international speaker, presenting at conferences and teaching courses on the mechanisms of manual therapy, most recently in India and Germany. As a 20 year resident of Squamish, BC Susan is excited to grow the opportunities for successful economic development and seeing her community thrive with the opening of “Aligned Collective ”.

Zanny Venner

Zanny is an Urban Strategist with experience operating in social innovation spaces and community-driven, social and economic development. With an MS in Design & Urban Ecologies from Parsons The New School for Design in New York City, her training and education has enriched her capacity to research, strategize, and mediate community-led development projects across a wide spectrum of urban issues and challenges, including public space, arts & culture, waste, housing and land rights, and informal economies. She has her own individual consulting firm called ‘(in)between” where she designs multi-stakeholder urban agendas between community organizations, institutions and residents and is also an Associate at CapacityBuild Consulting Inc. Not only is she an avid backcountry enthusiast as a mountain biker and big mountain skier, but she is personally and professionally invested in co-creating community development projects where she lives. As a recent resident of Squamish, Zanny is excited to be collaborating with Susan Chapelle to open “Aligned Collective” to support the local economic ecosystems and the social fabric of the Sea to Sky community.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Deanna Wampler

Deanna Wampler is a dynamic, social media expert, and people person. For over seven years she has excelled in propelling businesses, non-profits, and entrepreneurs toward their marketing goals by defining clear strategies and executing solid, successful social media plans. With a passion for entrepreneurship, Deanna received her Bachelors of Commerce in Entrepreneurship from Royal Roads University in Victoria, BC. In 2014, along with a small group of women, Deanna started “Squamish Mothers in Business” which is now a registered non-profit that supports mothers with valuable business tools and networking opportunities.

Harri Jansson

Harri Jansson is a seasoned financial services executive. He spent the majority of his career at BMO rising to the position of Executive Vice President of Personal and Commercial Banking. Subsequently, Mr. Jansson served in senior executive roles with several credit unions in BC including being the founding CEO and President of Coast Capital Savings. In the community, he served twice as Chairman of the Vancouver and UBC Hospital Foundation and in 2001 was Chairman of the Vancouver Board of Trade. Mr. Jansson, a Finn by birth, served for five years as the Honorary Consul for Finland for British Columbia. Mr. Jansson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the State University of New York and a Master of Arts degree from Seton Hall University.

Jean Spencer

Jean Spencer is a writer, entrepreneur, and marketer. With a background in journalism, Jean cut her teeth as a political reporter at The Wall Street Journal in Washington DC and various regional newspapers. Later, Jean shifted her career to focus on how the aspects of story and content could help grow for-profit businesses, with her hands in several startup businesses. In 2015, Jean became the head of Microsoft’s global content marketing strategy, before making Squamish home in November 2016. Currently, Jean serves as the Managing Editor at Zenefits, and HR SaaS company based in San Francisco. Jean’s been working at coworking spaces since 2013, and has worked on the corporate side for Galvanize, a 3000+ member coworking space in the States.

Kathleen Lane

Kathleen Lane is driven by her vision of a future where people, communities and ecosystems are thriving. As an Organizational Performance Consultant, she works with businesses and non-profits to align purpose, strategy and culture to deliver results that benefit the triple-bottom line. A perpetual learner, Kathleen studied engineering and population health before earning her MBA from UBC’s Sauder School of Business in 2015. Since graduating, she has continued to research the human side of business, and recently published a whitepaper outlining how fulfilling six core psychological needs supports employee wellbeing, engagement and productivity. Kathleen lives in Squamish, where she spends her spare time climbing, running and skiing in the local mountains.

Negar Elmieh

Negar Elmieh is an educator, facilitator, researcher, and an advocate for health and environmental issues. She examines problems through an interdisciplinary lens, using both quantitative and qualitative methods to understand complex health, environment, educational, and policy issues. She is motivated by the need to understand systems to create more effective program and policies, to achieve social change, and to bridge the gap between research, communication, and real-world issues. Negar is a Professor at Quest University Canada, she holds a Master of Public Health and a Master of Science from Tufts University in Boston, and a PhD from the University of British Columbia.

Igor Oliveira

Igor's mission is to create freedom by leveraging technology & therefore, maximizing human potential. To accomplish this, his mission he has two avenues that work in parallel, complementing each other: He founded Opes Consulting Co where they design and implement digital workflow systems based on the way people think, act and collaborate. He also conducts workshops where they empower employees to use those new tools. He also created Project Reflections, one on one coaching sessions. The goal of this project is to help people explore their beliefs so they can better understand why they behave the way they do. This project is not only focused on people’s personal lives, it creates a major impact on their professional lives as well. Igor is excited to join the Board of Directors.

Jeff Levine

Coming Soon...

Stay in the loop on upcoming events & what's happening at the collective!